Q&A: Oak Ridge North police chief shares vision for future of department

Marcus Teske became the new Oak Ridge North police chief at the city council's Jan. 26 meeting and was sworn in Feb. 9. Teske brings over 20 years of experience and familiarity with the Oak Ridge North community.

In a Q&A with Community Impact, Teske discussed his vision to improve the department amid ongoing growth, including providing better law enforcement visibility.

Can you share a little about your career journey and what led you to this position?

My career in policing started back in 2002 with the Huntsville Police Department. I was there for about two and a half years and then left there and came to Oak Ridge North ... and worked my way up. I was a patrol officer, a field training officer, sergeant, lieutenant and now I'm the police chief.

What are your top priorities as the new police chief?

One of them is rebranding the agency and getting us back out there. Building our relationships and continuing our relationships with our neighboring agencies and the surrounding agencies, and getting our guys back out in the community. Working hard and getting to know the citizens, the businesses and just taking care of the community as a whole.

What’s your vision for the department as the community continues to grow?

As the community continues to grow, I hope to make this one of the best agencies in south Montgomery County to be the best-trained, the best-equipped [and] the best professional agency [so] that we can provide the best service for our citizens.

What are the biggest challenges in this community, and how do you plan to tackle them?

[The] biggest challenge we have right now is growth with the new plaza district coming in. Handling calls for service [with] staffing is always an issue.

With salary increases instituted last year, do you believe this will continue to be a challenge to attract and retain officers?

Yes, I think the salary increase has helped us. We've had a number of new applicants coming in right now. We've got several in the background. You know, salaries are always going to be an issue in policing because everybody's hiring right now. Everybody's trying to get the best talent that they can.

How are you going to keep that moving forward with the salaries?

That's going to be a challenge and that's something that I'm going to work with our city council, our city manager. We all have a great relationship and we'll work together to do what we can to make it happen.

What message do you have for the community as their new police chief?

As the chief, I'm here to serve the community and make sure that this agency is providing the best service that we can to the community.

How do you foresee the department collaborating with other regional law enforcement entities?

So, I think our agency has a great relationship with our neighboring agencies and our regional agencies. And I've got a great relationship with our neighboring chief Troye Dunlap. I've got a great relationship with Conroe ISD.

I think that they all work great together to accomplish their goals as law enforcement, and I think Oak Ridge being one of the first agencies north of Harris County when you come into Montgomery, we're the one of the first lines of defense and to keep in front at bay.

How do you plan to combat crime and traffic?

In regards to combating crime that's coming in: visibility. Our officers are going to be visible, whether it's driving the streets or making traffic stops, we want them to be seen.